Why do my potatoes have rough scabby patches?
Common scab is a skin blemish, not a rot — how to tell it from powdery scab and from blight, whether the potatoes are still good, and the watering that prevents it.
beginner12 min3 min read
Garden
Seasonal, practical gardening for people with a normal garden and a normal amount of time. Timings are given for a temperate northern-hemisphere climate — adjust for yours.
687 guides
Why does my coriander bolt before I can pick it?
Why coriander runs to seed faster than any other herb, the root disturbance that triggers it, and the sowing regime that gives leaf all summer instead of three weeks of it.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy does my lawnmower cut out in hot weather?
A mower that runs, gets hot, cuts out and then restarts when cool has a specific short list of causes — vapour lock, a blocked cooling path, or an electrical component failing when warm.
intermediate30 min6 min readWhy does my lawnmower start and then cut out?
Whether it dies after seconds, after minutes, or only under load tells you which system is failing, and each points at a different repair.
intermediate45 min5 min readWhy is my apple tree dropping small fruit in June?
The natural early-summer shedding that alarms people every year, how to tell it from the drops that are a real problem, and what to do afterwards.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy is my compost bin full of little flies?
What the cloud of flies actually is, why it means the heap is out of balance rather than diseased, and the two changes that clear it in a week.
beginner20 min3 min readWhy is my lawn full of clover?
What clover in a lawn tells you about the soil, whether it is worth removing, and the feeding regime that pushes it out.
beginner30 min3 min readWhy is my lawn full of holes and dead patches?
Distinguishing grubs, ants, animals digging and disease, since the patterns are quite different.
intermediate1 hr2 min readWhy won't grass grow under my tree?
Three things are happening under a tree at once — no light, no water and no nutrients — and only one of them is fixable. What to try, and when to stop trying.
beginner45 min5 min readWill a raised bed fix my drainage problem?
It lifts roots out of the wet, which is often exactly enough — but it removes no water at all, and there are three situations where it changes nothing.
beginner25 min4 min readAre these insects on my plant pests, or are they eating the pests?
Identifying the predator larvae that get squashed by mistake, and why spraying a plant that already has them usually makes the infestation worse.
beginner15 min4 min readCan I compost weeds without spreading them round the garden?
Which weeds go straight on the heap, which need drowning first, and which must never go near it at all — sorted by what actually survives a cold garden heap.
beginner30 min4 min readCan I grow vegetables in buckets and old containers?
Which household and builders' containers make genuinely good vegetable pots, the plastics to avoid, and the drainage and depth checks that turn a bucket into a working planter.
beginner25 min3 min readDo I need to water pots in winter?
The container plants that die of drought between November and March, why rain never reaches them, and how to water in cold weather without causing more harm than you prevent.
beginner5 min3 min readDo bark and wood chip steal nitrogen from the soil?
On the surface, effectively no. Dug in, badly — and the difference is entirely about how much of the wood is in contact with soil.
intermediate15 min4 min readHow do I adjust a published frost date for my own garden?
The five site factors that shift your frost dates away from the nearest weather station's — altitude, hollows, aspect, urban heat and the sea — and how to combine them into a correction you can actually use.
intermediate20 min4 min readHow do I get power and water to a greenhouse?
What a greenhouse supply actually involves, why an extension lead is not a solution, and the rainwater setup that removes most of the need for a mains water run.
advanced1 hr4 min readHow do I look after a lawnmower?
Blade sharpening, cleaning and seasonal maintenance for petrol and electric mowers, and the safety steps that matter most.
intermediate1 hr 30 min3 min readHow do I overwinter tender plants?
Bringing plants through the cold months, whether by lifting, wrapping or simply moving them somewhere sheltered.
intermediate1 hr 30 min2 min readHow do I turn part of my lawn into a wildflower meadow?
Why fertile soil is the enemy, the yellow rattle trick, the cut-and-remove regime that makes or breaks it, and honest expectations for years one to three.
intermediate5 hr5 min readHow do I use biological controls in a greenhouse?
Which predator or parasite goes against which greenhouse pest, the temperature and timing each one needs, and the single rule that decides whether the release works.
intermediate30 min4 min readIs ivy killing my tree?
Ivy is not a parasite and does not strangle trees, but it does three things that matter — and knowing which ones apply to your tree decides whether to cut it or leave it.
beginner30 min5 min readShould I line a raised bed?
Which surfaces of a raised bed benefit from a liner and which must be left open, plus the specific cases where a base liner is right.
beginner30 min3 min readShould I put anything in the planting hole?
Bone meal, mycorrhizal fungi, compost and fertiliser assessed one at a time — and why a hole full of lovely compost in heavy soil is one of the commonest ways to kill a new shrub.
beginner20 min5 min read